Cal opens 2008 Global Sports Classic at home

November 20, 8:43 AMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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As you'd expect, the Texas Pan American (UTPA) Broncos are nearly an unknown entity in the college basketball world.  They are an independent Div I school coming off a loss to UNLV.  Last season, they improved to 15-16 from 7-24 in '05-'06.  The school is located in Edinburg, Texas and has an enrollment of a little more than 17,000 students.

The Broncos are not a basketball power-house, but they've had notable coaches such as Abe Lemon, Bill White, and Lon Kruger in the past.  They've been to the NIT once, and in 1963 they won the NAIA national championship.

This game marks the first round for the Bears of the 2008 Global Sports Classic, held by UNLV.  On Monday, the Bears will host their second round opponent, North Carolina A&T, then travel to Las Vegas to play UNLV.  The winner of that game will then play the winner of the Florida State-Cincinnati game in the championship round.

In UTPA's last game, they faced UNLV and gave them a stiff test in the first half.  After four ties and five lead changes in that first half, the Runnin' Rebels came out of the locker room and started a 9-2 run on their way to trouncing the Broncos 73-48.

For the Broncos, Emmanuel Jones led with a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds).  The 6'7" senior forward received offensive help from junior guard, Ben Smith with 10 points.  Despite those efforts and five assists and a block by P.J. Turner, the Broncos weren't able to overcome their poor shooting.  They shot 36.4% from the field and only 50% in free throws, while holding the Rebels to 39.1% from the field and an attrocious 21.4% (6-28) from beyond the arc.

Here are UTPA's probable starters for the game:

The Bears come into the game seemingly getting better with each opponent they face, but Mike Montgomery hasn't been pleased so far.  According to him, he let the Bears have it after defeating the USF Dons 87-74 on Tuesday night.  If the Bears have any trouble defending the Broncos, look for them to do what they did against the Dons and play more zone defense.

On Cal's best adjustments during the Dons game, Montgomery said:

Really what helped us more than anything was going to the zone, because it allowed Jamal [Boykin] to have a place to play without getting away from the basket. At some point we're going to have to get better at zones. The problem we have there is rebounding out of the zone, which is always the problem that you have.

What to Expect: Expect a fairly easy win for the Bears.  They've already faced stronger competition than UTPA and shown that they have the ability to defeat them easily.  This should be even more of the same.  This is the first time these schools have faced each other, and Cal will probably man-handle the Broncos for the series lead.

Cal Bears Examiner prediction: Ugly, very ugly.  Cal 88 - UTPA 57